Posted on 01/26/2008 9:07:59 AM PST by mtrott
Democrat support of the stimulus package amounts to a major capitulation on the whole issue of taxes, and the republicans should be off to the races with it. This is a de facto admission that lower taxes will grow, not hurt the economy. The rebates are essentially an admission that recent tax rates have been too high, and that the money should have remained in private hands and should never have gone to the goverment in the first place. I look at the rebates as a retroactive tax cut for 2007.
If the democrats are now admitting that it is good for the economy for that money to be in the hands of taxpayers, don't let them later get away with trying to convince folks of the opposite. This argument has to be made now, and on through the general election. Yes, the redistributionists do get a token $300 to non-income tax payers out of it, but, in my opinion, that is an acceptable price to pay for the overall victory in the battle in public opinion over the relation between tax rates and economic growth.
In my work in sales, I was in an office just yesterday where the vast majority of the staff was almost certainly traditional democratic voters. The subject of the tax rebates came up, and it was interesting to note that every person there seemed to completely understand the rationale of the rebates, and that the politicians wanted them to spend the money in the economy! Romney's plan's reduction of the lowest marginal tax rate from 10% to 7.5% is a fabulous opportunity to follow up with these folks. If they are buying into the notion that the rebates will help the economy, how hard can it be to convince them that getting more money in their paychecks will also help the economy?
But the case will have to also be made that reduced rates for higher income folks will also help the economy both through purchases in the economy, but also business investment, increased profitability, and will result in job creation.
This is why I say the republicans need to run with this. It is such a simple economic equation, and anybody can understand it. This issue also has the potential to change the dynamic in the general election campaign, and people are going to have to think about what econimic conditions and tax policies actually create and maintain good jobs.
bigger better ‘stimulus package’ ... suspend all gas and fuel taxes...
Sorry, it’s not really an opportunity.
I’ll tell you in advance the Democrats’ repsonses later in the year.
If the stimulus helps the economy: “No, it wasn’t the stimulus package that did it. It was the market itself. The package actually slowed our recovery. And it increased our debt!!!”
If the stimulus package doesn’t help: “See? We told you it wouldn’t work. What we need is more money for the federal government to fix this (higher taxes).”
Bank on it.
No, it's not. At it's top and bottom it's taking from high wage earners (who won't be seeing a "rebate" check) and giving it, in many cases, to people who paid no taxes in the first place.
This is not ...
an admission that the money should have remained in private hands and should never have gone to the goverment in the first place
...it's Washington, once again, telling us that they will take care of everything for us.
How do the Republicans pass a tax cut without controll of the congress, which would have to pass the legislation?
Give this man a prize!
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